By Justin D. Anderson
Charleston Daily Mail (West Virginia)
The city of Huntington has taken its battle against a veteran firefighter who was alleged to be abusing crack cocaine and alcohol on the job to the state Supreme Court.
The city contends it rightfully required a drug test of Capt. Earl Legg Jr., a decorated, 15-year veteran of the fire department.
He was removed from his job last year after he allegedly tainted a urine test, though he has continued to collect a paycheck. A physician said the specimen from that test was more consistent with water than human urine. The city’s Civil Service Commission ruled the city had the authority to test Legg.
Legg appealed to Cabell Circuit Court, where Judge John L. Cummings in May 2005 overturned the civil service commission’s decision. In ordering Legg’s reinstatement, the judge said the city did not have reasonable suspicion to order Legg to take the test.
Legg argues that the specimen could have been altered because of human error and that the city didn’t have grounds to test him in the first place.
The city has appealed the decision and Supreme Court Justices on Sept. 13 will hear arguments in the case.
According to court documents, the issue first arose in April 2004, when a fellow firefighter who’d just been arrested for drug possession told a deputy chief that other firefighters needed help with substance abuse problems. The firefighter’s girlfriend alleged Legg got her boyfriend involved in smoking crack cocaine.
She further alleged that Legg drank beer while on duty and smoked crack in the firehouse while others were sleeping.
The city used those allegations as grounds for ordering Legg to take the drug test shortly thereafter.
Three administrators at the fire department, including Chief Greg Fuller, also apparently noticed changes in Legg’s behavior they said was consistent with substance abuse - a pattern of calling off sick, general nervousness and agitation.
The city also cited two times Legg was arrested on drunken driving charges in Lawrence County, Ohio, as grounds for the test. Legg was convicted for his first DUI in 2002 and was ordered to complete a three-day driver intervention program.
Despite the circuit court’s order, the city ordered Legg not to come to work, though he still collects a paycheck and maintains his rank, said Huntington Mayor David Felinton.
“I, for one, feel there’s a safety issue by putting him out on the fire truck,” Felinton said. “I feel that we would be putting our residents at risk.”
Roger Smith, Legg’s lawyer, said Felinton’s position about Legg is improper.
“Captain Legg is a 15-year veteran who’s earned two medals of valor,” Smith said. “Therefore, I don’t see how he can be anything other than an asset to the city.”
Legg received a Medal of Valor in 2000 for his help in pulling six people from a fire. He got a second medal two years later for saving a person trapped in a burning structure.